Powering Jobs
As part of the Powering Jobs campaign, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda, wrapped up their Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) in March and April 2022 with selected companies that had taken part in the survey. These were detailed discussions to validate the initial survey findings and get further insights into the trends in the sector.
Nigeria held its in-person discussions on April 5, with nine companies in attendance. These included PAS solar, Schneider Electric, Power Gen, ZenelGie global consulting, Smartgrid, Gear Africa, Solar Sister, Powercell Ltd. and Coldhub Nigeria.
India, Kenya, and Uganda held their FGDs in March. India’s meeting was held virtually and attended by 10 companies. Kenya and Uganda held in-person discussions with 11 and 15 companies, respectively.
The Power for All Research team is now consolidating the qualitative and quantitative data from the survey and the FGDs.
The second round of Steering Committee meetings started with India on April 20 followed by the global team on April 25. Nigeria and Kenya held their meetings on April 27 and 28, respectively. Uganda’s is scheduled for May 3.
In Ethiopia, we are wrapping up the survey and have identified key stakeholders to be part of the steering committee. The first steering committee meeting is scheduled for early May, followed by the focus group discussion at the end of the month.
Related to the #PoweringJobs campaign, at the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) forum in Kigali, Rwanda, Power for All and the Alliance for Rural Electrification will convene a panel discussion on “Powering the Distributed Renewable Energy Workforce” on May 19.
Utilities 2.0
As part of the Utilities 2.0 (U2.0) campaign, a webinar titled “Building Partnerships for an Integrated Energy Approach: Experience from the Utilities 2.0 project, Uganda” is planned for May 5. During this knowledge sharing session, the project’s implementing partners will share how they built and managed partnerships that have been key to the project's success, the challenges faced and lessons learned for scaling and replicating the project elsewhere.
At the SEforALL forum in Kigali, Rwanda, Power for All along with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Crossboundary will co-chair a panel discussion titled “The transition to the Grid of the Future” on May 17. This session will explore the role of DRE-based interconnected grid and address the development of business models and pilot projects which show the potential for a win-win between utilities, customers, and DRE project developers. The learning and impact of the U2.0 campaign will be presented at this event.
Powering Agriculture
In India, Solar Agro Sathi (Agri Solar working group) has been formed and will meet for the first time on April 28, 2022, to discuss how to take the advocacy and program efforts further in the state of Jharkhand. The agriculture task force's Terms Of Reference have been prepared and will be presented to the members for approval. The theme for the kick-off meeting is “Strengthening the Agriculture Sector through PUE (Productive Use of Energy).”
The meeting, organized in close coordination with the Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA), will focus on strategies to expand the role of DRE in the agriculture value chain focusing on the productive use of energy to strengthen the sector and improve the livelihoods of farmers and other stakeholders. The session will have speakers from JREDA, World Resource Institute(WRI), Council on Energy Environment and Water, ONergy, and SwitchON foundation.
Powering Health
In Zambia, we are planning a high-level dialogue meeting, officiated by the Ministries of Health and Energy, to present the campaign’s Call to Action and Action Plan. These documents highlight the issues facing the electrification of rural health facilities and ways to address them. The Action Plan and the high-level dialogue meeting also aim to draw investors’ and funders' attention to this initiative. We are currently working with the Ministry of Health to finalize dates for this event in May.
In Jharkhand, India, we are working with the state department to assess the status of electrification of rural health centers and to prepare a roadmap for the solarization of 4000 health centers. The on-ground data collection aims to benchmark the status of electrification in the districts with low and medium electrification rates in the state, such as Ranchi, Sahibganj, Dumka, and West Singhbhum. We have surveyed over 450 health centers and aim to complete the target of 600 by mid-May. This work is in collaboration with the Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency and the State Health Department of Jharkhand.
Power for All also initiated the formation of the“Swasth Solar Samiti” (Health Solar Working Group). Findings from the assessment will be shared with the group for feedback and to identify key advocacy issues for the state of Jharkhand.